Elephant Swoon #8 and #9

The last two Elephant blocks are done!!

Yippee!!!

I really love this one.  It is so rich and hits me inside somewhere....

This one is just BOLD!!

All nine are done and now I can start putting the quilt top together.

Elephants 4, 5, and 6!

So, we were gone the entire summer living in the central mountains of Idaho.

It was a fantastic summer adventure for the whole family.

We loved it but I really miss my sewing machine when we're gone.

I had some real catching up to do.

And here they are:

Elephant Swoon #4

Elephant Swoon #5

Elephant Swoon #6

So fun, huh!!

Swoon Elephant #1

A select few of the 33 little elephants get a 

place of honor in the center of a Swoon block.

Here's the first one finished!!

What do you think?

I think it's pretty darn awesome!

Can't wait to show you the next one...

33 Elephants

How do you eat an elephant?

One bite at a time.

How do you sew 33 paper pieced elephants?

One piece at a time.

These cute guys are 4" each and made of gorgeous batiks.

The pattern came from A Quilter's Arc .

They will all be a part of an amazing quilt in the near future.

Now, I've got some serious paper to pick off the backs while I watch some movies...

February's Work

I know I'm quite behind but, oh, the computer has given me fits....

So here is my February accomplishments:

This one I'm calling Botany and I got ten more of those wonky diamonds done.

On the strip quilt, I've added 10 more blocks and 12 more little nine-patches.

 Four pretty flamingos join the animal collection.

 These are so fun, huh!  I just painted the legs like I did for the lions last time.

 This one I'm calling the India quilt.  So far, I'm just drawing sketches and getting some ideas together.  Stay tuned to see this elephant in color later.

 These are Mosaic blocks.  I started them in a swap about a year ago and then the swap was disbanded so I'm going ahead with them on my own.

 Here is one more sailboat to add to that collection.  This one was fun because it is my first wonky boat and I made the little yellow flag 3D so it stands out from the block.

Next, on to my swaps:

For PQA, I made for myself two of the 4-patch ladders for my own quilt to go with those that the other ladies are making for me.

 And this block I made for Nicole.  She is going to have a beautiful quilt.

For Block Swap Adventure:

I made this one for Helen K. in England.  She wanted a star in yellow and gray.

And this is the one she made and sent to me. (Crazy that we made the same block.)  This one will go with the sailboats.  I think it's great!

For the Inchy Hexagon Flower Swap:

I made these for Joke R. in the Netherlands.

 And these I received from Lori J. in Tennessee.  My black-eyed-susan quilt is really growing.  I'll have to share my progress on it later.

Phew!  Is that enough?  How good it feels to really get some things done - a little on lots of different projects.

A Quilt Story to Remember

Here's an amazing story about a quilt.

I made this quilt for my brother-in-law and his family for Christmas some years ago.

Their kids were playing with a reading lamp near the bed and knocked it over.

 Some time later, as they were getting ready to leave the house for the day, my sister-in-law realized she forgot something and ran into the bedroom, only to find the quilt smoldering and smoking.

 She soaked the quilt in the sink and saved her home just in time.

Luckily, she was inspired to run back inside the bedroom.

 Luckily the quilt was folded over and the light bulb only burned through the quilt not harming the mattress.

 Luckily it was only burned on the very corner and a simple fix.

 Luckily I had exactly enough scrap of that stripe fabric left to rebuild the border.  Stripes - especially uneven stripe like those - are so forgiving!  You can't even tell where I pieced in the new fabric...

...Unless you look at the back ... I used what I had on hand.  A slightly different neutral muslin.

Oh, well.  It will serve as a reminder scar, I guess.

 All in all, the quilt was saved and, more important, their home is saved too.

 It's still a beautiful quilt with many more years of use in it.

I finished it in time for my sister-in-law's birthday, so as a gift to them, I appliqued a fourth little cub because #4 is coming this winter.  Cute, huh!

Elephants and a Flower

Here is my recent finish in my animal blocks.  Some cute elephants.

I love the way they turned out.

I used some scrap for the background and I ran out before they were all squared up. Luckily, I ran out at a good point - two are square and two are a nice rectangle.  I'll just adjust them later when I put a quilt top together.  No worries.

And my flower for One Flower Wednesday:

I know, I know.  It looks surprisingly similar to the last one... 

Well, that's the theme of this project.

Really having fun with them though.

And By the Way...

Here's what I've been working on lately...

Another animal block to add to my new collection.  This one is a Blue Jay.  I think it's kinda sweet.  It's been waiting a week or so because I didn't have any gray floss to stitch the legs... but now they're done.

These are the Barn Door blocks that I made and sent to my partner Linda.

For the Block Swap Adventure, I made this Four Patch Star for my partner, Laurrie.  She wanted spring colors and I really like how it turned out.  I had a bit of separation anxiety with it and kept it an extra day or two just to look at it...  :)  I hope she likes it as much as I did.

This is the block Laurrie sent me.  I asked for sailboats and she delivered. 

 Isn't is great!!  I love it too!

And, finally, this is our new puppy, Ru.  She is a goldendoodle and wow, I was not prepared for what she brought.  It's like having another toddler...

She is so cute and fluffy (she almost blends into the carpet).  We're really liking her.